{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Minnesota CropCast","title":"Mitch Hunter and the U of MN Forever Green Initiative","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2140,"description":"In episode #31 Dave Nicolai and Seth Naeve chat with Mitch Hunter, Associate Director of the Forever Green Initiative at the University of Minnesota and Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics. In this podcast Mitch discussed the Forever Green Initiative (FGI) which is developing Kernza as the first commercially viable perennial grain crop.  Mitch is a native of Minnesota, and his parents continue to raise organic grass-fed beef in southeast Minnesota. His postdoctoral research at the University of Minnesota focused on dual-use management of Kernza® intermediate wheatgrass for forage and grain production. Mitch did his PhD in agronomy at Penn State where he studied cover crop mixtures, climate resilience, and sustainable intensification.  In this podcast, Dave and Seth discuss with Mitch how and why  FGI is developing and improving winter-hardy annual and perennial crops that protect soil and water while driving new economic opportunities for growers across Minnesota. By combining these novel crops with traditional annual crops, FGI is to provide farmers with crops that can keep the soil covered all year round, or a “continuous living cover”.  Mitch outlined how FGI combines basic research with crop commercialization efforts, so that it can be profitable for farmers to produce these crops across rural Minnesota.  Mitch also highlights that the Cargill corporation recently awarded $2.5 million to the Forever Green Initiative at the University of Minnesota to support research into two novel oilseed crops—winter camelina and domesticated winter pennycress—that can produce vegetable oil for low-carbon transportation fuels while also protecting soil, improving water quality, and providing new revenue streams for farmers. A major emphasis of FGIis to combine basic research with crop commercialization efforts, so that it can be profitable for farmers to produce these crops across rural Minnesota. This comprehensive approach moves new...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/IgpTFmIO-GGDZ3MRgeIWZZHac2xDKvyq0LM36-9dcaM/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9zaG93/LzQxODM1LzE2ODQ3/OTQxMzItYXJ0d29y/ay5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}